Excavator-bucket cleaner.



BMIAMAIQKBUCKEI CLEANER APPLICATIQN.HLE D FEB. 24. 1915.

1 ,298, 978. Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET I,

T. LOKEN.

EXCAVATOR BUCKET CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24. 1915.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

s'rx'rns ATE;

rants Loxmr, or KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, assicnon ro FREDERICK c. AUSTIN, or

cnroaeo, ILLINOIS.

EXCAVATORr-BUCKET CLEAN To all tvhom it may concern: I

- Be it known that I, TRULS LOKEN, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

resident of Kenosha, Kenosha county, .Wi's: consin, 611 Dayton street,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Excavator-BucketCleaners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to excavating machines of that type in which aseries of buckets travels around upper and .lower' sprockeowheels on avertically arranged digging beam, the said buckets being secured to oneor more sprocket chains, and means being provided in the. path 'of thebuckets, at a point above the upper sprocket wheels, for

7 and including means whereby said rod may tilt freely in a verticalplane, when the pivoted bucket cleaner is operated about its horizontalaxis by the pressure of the load in the bucket, thereby obviating thenecessity of employing more or less'complicated connections between thesaid cleaner and the upper end of said. rod, as will hereinafter morefully appear, and whereby the said rod "is always subject to a straightendwise pull thereon, thus preventing the rod and other parts fromwearing out too quickly} and serving also to increase the efficiency ofsaid spring, as will also hereinafter more fully appear;

To the foregoing and other useful ends my invention consists in mattershereinafter set forth and claimed, but it will be understood that I donot limit myself to the exact construction shown and described.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

Application filed February 24, 1915. Serial No. 10,204.

to which the excavating buckets are secured. in such manner that theytilt away from the sprocket chain at their rear ends, as they travelover the upper sprocket wheel, and showing the said cleaning mechanismbywhich. the

[contents of each bucket is automatically -dis-.

charged therefrom while in the tilted or upside-down position shown.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1. p

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the forked co'nnecting member which isemployed at the upper end of thespring-rod to connect the latter withthe armof the clearer.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 14 in Fig. 1. '-As thus illustrated, myinvention comprises a supporting member A consisting of a castingsecured at its lower end tothe upper end of the digging beam, whichlatter is of any suitable form. A horizontal shaft C is sup-ported'in abearing a on the said member A, and is provided "with a pair of sprocketwheels 0, or equivalent devices, of any suitable character. The sprocketchains D are supported by said sprocket Wheels 0 and arranged to travelin the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, being connectedtogether by a series of excavating buckets E secured at intervalsthereto in such manner that each bucket tilts away from the sprocketchains when in position shown in Fig. 1, thereby discharging thecontents or load from its rear end.

The cleaning mechanism comprises a cleaner F which is pivoted at f inthe forked upper end portion of the member A, and which is provided atits forward end with a vertically disposed cleaner-plate G disposed inposition to pass through the buckets and scrape up contents thereof. Asleeve H is provided with trunnions h mounted in trunnion bearings I onthe rear side of the I member A, whereby this sleeve H is adapted totilt about a horizontal axis arranged parallel with the axis of thecleaner F, and with the shaft C, being disposed a suitable distancebelow the latter. The rod J slides up and down in the sleeve H and ispro vided at its lower end with a shoulder j in the form of a nut andwasher suitably secured thereon. A spring K, of helical form, isarranged on said rod for compression be tween said shoulder y' and thelower end of the sleeve H," and is compressed when the rod moves upward.At its upper end, said rod J is provided with a forked-shaped connectingpiece L which has a pivotal connec tion l with the rear end of thecleaner F, whereby the pressure of the load in the bucket on the plate Gwill cause the rod J to slide upward.- It will also be seen that the rodmust tilt in a vertical plane in order to have this upward .movement,inasmuch as the pivot Z swings on the arc of a circle struck from thepivot f, and for this reason the sleeve H is free to tilt in itstrunnion bearings. Then when the bucket has passed, and the plate G hasbeen released, the spring K will restore the entire cleaner mechanism tonormal position, and at this time the rod again tilts about the axisprovided by the trunnion bearings.

For the purpose of adjusting the tension of the spring K, and forthereby regulating the action of the cleaner, the upper end of the rod Jis provided with an adjusting'nut M which bears against a shoulder onthe connecting vmember L, which prevents the rod from being pulleddownwardand out of place by the spring; By rotating this nut M thespring K can be compressed or expanded, Whichever is necessary ordesirable, and after the proper adjustment has been attained the memberL is then secured in the fixed position on the rod by means of thelock-nut N which bears against the lower end of said member, whereby thelatter is clamped tight between these two nuts on the rod. Of course,the shoulder formed by the lower portion of the rod, and the tension ofthe spring and the position of the cleaner can also be regulated byadjustment of this nut. In this way, and with the provision of this nutand the nut M, the cleaning device as a whole can be adjusted orregulated to suit the requirements of the buckets or of different kindsof work. Also, itwill be seen that the trunnion bearings I have bolts 2'by which the outer halves of these hearings are held inplace, so thatremoval of these bolts will permit removal of the sleeve or bearing Hwhen such is necessary or desirable.

With the foregoing construction, it will be seen that the rod J isalways subject to a straight end-wise pull, is free from lateral pull orstrain, and at the same time has a direct pivotal connection with thearm of the cleaner. Consequently, there is very little wearas betweenthe rod and the sleeve H, and in addition the spring K valways works toadvantage and without having to overcome unnecessary friction of theparts.-

disposed in position to pass through said buckets, an arm rigid withsaid cleaner, an

oscillating bearing, a rod to reciprocate in said bearing, a spring onsaid rod below said bearing, means on said rod to engage the lower endof said spring, an element pivoted on said arm, and screw threaded meansto adjustably connect said element with the upper portion of said rod.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said means forengaging the lowerend of said spring having asc'rew thread adjustment on p said rod. nut jis adjustable, being screwed onto the 13th day of February,

- Signed by me at Chicago, Illinois, this TRULS LOKEN.

Witnessesz RACHEL J. RICHARDSON, RosE E. SEHNEM.

